How To Make a Foam Puppet - Part 1 - (Free Chapter)

Learn to design and fabricate foam puppets with master puppet maker BJ Guyer (Muppet's Wizard of Oz, Glee, Crank Yankers). In Part 1 of his 3-part webcourse series, Guyer introduces you to the tools, materials, and techniques you'll need to pattern, carve and sculpt a hand puppet out of affordable foam.

I am watching BJ Guyer's puppet foam sculpting part 1 on demand and during the explanation as to what type of foam to use for carving he did not mention reticulated foam as an option. Is that not a good foam option for sculpting foam or does BJ just not carve reticulated foam as a matter of preference?

Reticulated foam might have some structural uses, but I imagine it is not commonly used when sculpting forms since the nature of the foam would make smooth surfaces difficult if not impossible, and it would need to be skinned. As with any material I'm sure there are a few cases where it might be advantageous. I'll see if we can get BJ to chime in.

I have the purchased the DVD's and have a question about where would you cut/install a hole if you were using the puppet for ventriloquism. Having the arm from the bottom of the puppet may not be useful.